Final yr’s King’s Stand winner Oxted won’t defend his crown at Royal Ascot and has been dominated out for the season after struggling a tendon harm.
The six-year-old has not been seen since ending third in final yr’s Darley July Cup at Newmarket following knee-chip surgical procedure and suffered an additional setback final month, which had dominated him out of his supposed reappearance within the 1895 Duke Of York Stakes final week and put his participation on the royal assembly doubtful.
A subsequent scan has revealed Oxted has a tendon tear and Roger Teal has determined to name time on his marketing campaign and rule him out of the King’s Stand, which he was a one-and-three-quarter-length winner of final yr.
“The scan was an enchancment however we’re out for the season,” Teal informed the Racing Put up.
“He’s obtained a small tendon tear. It’s not large, however it’s there. If we ignore it, it’ll make issues ten instances worse. We’re not going to threat him and we’ve pulled up stumps.”
“It’s such a disgrace because the knee-chip operation labored so nicely and he was shifting unbelievably. You get him patched up for one factor and one thing else goes, however they’re athletes. It occurs to the likes of footballers each day.
“It’s simply the way in which all the pieces goes for us in the meanwhile. The whole lot’s going mistaken and nothing goes proper, while you lose horses like him it’s a giant kick within the you-know-whats.”
Owned by Tony Hirschfeld, Stephen Piper, David Fish and John Collins, Oxted additionally landed the 2020 July Cup underneath Cieren Fallon and Teal is already wanting ahead to unleashing his secure star in 2023.
He added: “Everybody’s taken it on the chin rather well. It’s horses, it occurs. When it occurs to the great ones it’s a giant blow, however all being nicely we are going to get him again for subsequent yr.
“We’ll let it restore and begin once more. Sprinters can go on for fairly some time and fingers crossed we are able to get him again in a single piece. He’ll be contemporary, that’s for certain.”
Prime-class US sprinter Golden Pal heads the betting at a normal 5-2 for the King’s Stand, which takes place on June 14, forward of Australian star Nature Strip at 5-1.
Courtesy of Racing Put up